This may be a silly question but why should a water tank be vented out through the hull? Is there a chance of picking up salt water when healed. Can I avoid replacing a clogged vent in the hull and vent inside?

Properly designed, there should be little risk of salt water intrusion of your fresh water tanks from the vent.

Having said that, our last two boats had water tank vents inside the hull, high up under the hull deck joint in one case, and high up in the head compartment in our current boat. Neither set up caused us any trouble either. (and it is one less fitting piecing the hull skin)

One downside though; many people like to start to fill their tanks and walk away, shutting the water off when the fill line overflows - this is not recommeded practice in our case as the vents are slightly lower that the fill port and inside the boat.

I imagine that's the reason most are installed overboard. or in the cockpit area.

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Telstar 28
New England

You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.

—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)

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you could have the vent coming up through the deck next to a stanchion or the house. With a loop at the top and screened to keep out the vermin. Then it is in sight as you fill your water tank. This is the way it is done on work boats. Then when we have an overflow we know that the tank is pressed up.
But what ever you do, DO NOT combine the fuel vent with the Water vent... A definite NO NO!

you could have the vent coming up through the deck next to a stanchion or the house. With a loop at the top and screened to keep out the vermin. Then it is in sight as you fill your water tank. This is the way it is done on work boats. Then when we have an overflow we know that the tank is pressed up.
But what ever you do, DO NOT combine the fuel vent with the Water vent... A definite NO NO!

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Telstar 28
New England

You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.

—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)

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Mine runs up between the liner in the head and the hull - doesn't vent outside. Don't like this as the head is always more humid than the rest of the boat. Going to run it somewhere...maybe into the anchor locker...

We'll have to track ours down. Is it possible that some boats don't have a vent? When we fill our tanks we get big "thunk" sounds as they fill. When you pull the hose out of the deck fitting, you usually get a big geyser shooting out of it. I'm assuming the sounds are just due to the weight of the water pushing on the tank, but I'm not sure about the geyser...

s/v "Pelican" Passport 40 #076- Finished Cruising - for the moment - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts."Don't dream your life, live your dream" - Bob Bitchin'
"I'll see it when I believe it" - Me

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